GM exec stands by calling global warming a "crock"

General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz introduces the Chevrolet VOLT concept vehicle at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, January 7, 2007.

Reuters/Gary Cameron

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp Vice Chairman Bob
Lutz has defended remarks he made dismissing global warming as
a "total crock of s---," saying his views had no bearing on
GM's commitment to build environmentally friendly vehicles.

Lutz, GM's outspoken product development chief, has been
under fire from Internet bloggers since last month when he was
quoted as making the remark to reporters in Texas.

In a posting on his GM blog on Thursday, Lutz said those
"spewing virtual vitriol" at him for minimizing the threat of
climate change were "missing the big picture."

"What they should be doing in earnest is forming opinions,
not about me but about GM and what this company is doing that
is ... hugely beneficial to the causes they so enthusiastically
claim to support," he said in a posting titled, "Talk About a
Crock."

GM, the largest U.S. automaker by sales and market share,
has been trying to change its image after taking years of heat
for relying too much on sales of large sport-utility vehicles
like the Hummer and not moving faster on fuel-saving hybrid
technology.

"My thoughts on what has or hasn't been the cause of
climate change have nothing to do with the decisions I make to
advance the cause of General Motors," he wrote.

Lutz said GM was continuing development of the
battery-powered, plug-in Chevy Volt and other alternatives to
traditional internal combustion engines.

GM is racing against Toyota Motor Corp to be first to
market a plug-in hybrid car that can be recharged at a standard
electric outlet.

Lutz has previously said GM made a mistake by allowing
Toyota to seize "the mantle of green respectability and
technology leadership" with its market-leading Prius hybrid.

A 40-year auto industry veteran who joined GM earlier in
the decade with a mandate to shake up its vehicle line-up, Lutz
is no stranger to controversy.

As part of a campaign against higher fuel economy
standards, Lutz wrote in a 2006 blog posting that forcing
automakers to sell smaller cars would be "like trying to
address the obesity problem in this country by forcing clothing
manufacturers to sell smaller, tighter sizes."

Automakers ended their opposition to higher fuel standards
in 2007 when it became clear that proposed changes would become
law with or without their support.

In December, President George W. Bush signed a law
mandating a 40 percent increase in fleetwide fuel economy by
2020, the first substantial change in three decades.